Entering Doak Field Saturday afternoon, Virginia baseball brought a five game win streak — tied for its longest of the season — and a 1-0 series lead over NC State. With an opportunity to clinch the series on the line, the Cavaliers (17-12, 7-7 ACC) floundered at the plate and on the mound, losing 9-2 to the Wolfpack (19-12, 6-5 ACC).
Both teams started out hot, and Virginia’s early efforts were fruitful. The Cavaliers manufactured a run in the first frame, as junior outfielder Aidan Teel wore a pitch to lead the inning off, and was then moved to third on a well-executed hit and run with sophomore infielder Eric Becker. Sophomore outfielder Henry Ford drove the run in with a ground ball to shortstop, at which point NC State elected to take a double play over throwing out Teel at home.
But the Wolfpack fired back back, tying the game with a solo shot from senior infielder Justin DeCriscio in the second inning. Adding on, a pair of singles and an error from junior infielder Luke Hanson put hefty pressure on junior pitcher Evan Blanco. Blanco threw strikes, but a subsequent ground ball from freshman outfielder Ty Head found the outfield grass — scoring two runs. The Wolfpack continued to pour it on, with a single from sophomore infielder Chris McHugh adding another run. By the time the inning ended, NC State was leading 4-1.
This inning completely extinguished the Cavaliers’ flame. Virginia failed to get a hit until the sixth inning, while the Wolfpack added another run in the third inning. This knocked Blanco out of the game after just 2.1 innings in which he allowed nine hits and four earned runs. Despite the pitching change, NC State added a sixth run on a passed ball from graduate pitcher Alex Markus.
“We’ve been overcoming a lot of stuff over the last five games,” Coach Brian O'Connor said. “But it was just too much to overcome today.”
While Virginia’s arms struggled, sophomore pitcher Heath Andrews was absolutely dominant for the Wolfpack. Even though Andrews is not a big strikeout pitcher — he only had four in his six innings of work — he was able to draw a lot of weak contact and force double plays when necessary. Aside from the first inning, Andrews allowed just one run in his appearance when a Ford double scored Becker, narrowing the deficit to 6-2.
NC State’s bullpen was spectacular, only allowing just two hits in their three innings of action. Junior pitcher Andrew Schaffner was near-impossible to hit, cruising through the rest of the game after Andrews departed. Schaffner struck out five batters in his productive outing.
Meanwhile, the Cavalier bullpen hummed along as well — until the eighth inning. A couple hits from the Wolfpack put runners on the corners, and then a walk loaded them up for DeCriscio. Despite senior pitcher Blake Barker forcing a ground ball, Virginia only got one out. This led to a run scoring on the play, as well as the following single. Going into the final frame, NC State was up 9-2. With no comeback occurring in the final frame, 9-2 became the final score.
The Cavaliers looked like the version of themselves that got swept by Duke today. The starting pitching did not go deep enough into the game, the bullpen was mediocre at best and the hitting was incredibly streaky. While a team cannot be at their best in every game of a series, Virginia will have to prove that its win streak was not a fluke.
“We have an opportunity tomorrow to show our toughness as a team,” O’Connor said. “They beat us pretty good today, and you have a chance to win a series on the road against a really good opponent tomorrow.”
The series will conclude Sunday, with first pitch at 3 p.m. The expected starters are freshman pitcher Tomas Valincius for the Cavaliers and sophomore pitcher Ryan Marohn for the Wolfpack in the tiebreaker on ACC Network.
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